Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of drilling and processing of wells. More particularly, present embodiments relate to a system and method for addressing stick slip during certain drilling operations. Stick slip may be generally defined as the jerking motion of downhole components or equipment, such as drill pipe, as it slides against the edges of a borehole. Stick slip is primarily related to an inability of a driller to keep a desired weight on the bit (WOB) to yield a desired rate of penetration and tool life. If drilling components (e.g., pipe) stick and subsequently slip, a system can go from essentially no WOB or rate of penetration to too much WOB. This can result is undesirable drilling complications and inefficiencies (e.g., a damaged downhole assembly).
Stick slip is particularly prevalent in directional drilling. Directional drilling typically involves directing the path of a wellbore by controlling the orientation of a drilling assembly (e.g., a bent-axis motor bit assembly) during a drilling operation. The orientation of a drill bit for directional drilling is typically biased in a particular direction. More specifically, the associated tool face is configured to guide the drill path along a particular curve. However, rotating the attached drill string can change the orientation of the tool face and essentially override the bias. Traditionally, when drilling a straight hole, the drill pipe is rotated within the borehole to cause straight-line drilling. This rotation of the drill pipe also generally results in avoidance of stick slip issues. Indeed, the rotation of the drill pipe during straight line motion breaks static friction and allows slippery dynamic friction to take over, which facilitates freely sliding the drill pipe through the borehole and keeping a constant force on the drill bit.
However, when creating a curved portion of a directional drill hole, the drill pipe is traditionally not rotated. This allows an operator to steer the drilling by identifying an orientation of the drill bit and drilling when the desired direction corresponds to a bias of the drill bit. The lack of rotating the drill pipe during this steering operation allows the drill bit to direct the drilling in a curved manner, but also makes the process more susceptible to static friction. As the drill pipe begins to stick and bind in the borehole due to static friction, it becomes difficult to keep a consistent force on the bit. Thus, additional force may be applied until the static friction is overcome, which can result in undesirable jerking motions referred to as stick slip. Similar issues may occur when a large length of pipe is downhole, which may cause increased friction due to the length of pipe and associated surface area.